Israeli archaeologists have made what they say is a ‘breathtaking, once-in-a-lifetime discovery.’ They have unearthed gold and silver jewelry, a gold medallion depicting the menorah and 36 Byzantine gold coins near the Temple Mount’s southern wall in Jerusalem.

The treasure, more than 100 gold pieces weighing about 400 grams, is estimated to be worth more than $100,000.

The coins were found hidden in a partly broken pottery vessel at the Appollonia National Park near Herzliya, the site where archaeologists believe the ancient Crusader town of Apollonia-Arsuf once stood.

The hoard includes 108 gold coins, among them 93 weigh four grams each, and 15 weigh about 1 gram each. The archaeologists suggest that the gold was part of someone’s family treasure or business investment.

The coins were probably minted in Egypt about 250 years prior to their burial under the floor tiles of the 13th century CE fortress that has been under excavation for more than 30 years….

Some reference books are good only because of all the citations they provide to related first and secondary source works. This is one of them.

The Adventures of a Treasure Hunter, 1951 by Charles P Everitt – Ironically this is NOT about treasure, it is about a man who is a book finder and book hunter. However he mentions several important historical Americana books. From these books they are useful for treasure hunting leads. Narrative and critical history of America – A very rare book and dense compendium of American books in 1800’s and back. Written 1889. Leads galore.

Here you will see 2 different treasure chests from a museum near Monterrey, CA. These are more likely strongboxes for the captain of a sailing vessel. Using banded iron and handles on two ends, these were stout and built to last. Likely required two persons or more to carry.

In 1972, during excavations at the Chalcolithic necropolis of a settlement dating to the end of the fifth millennium BC near the present-day city of Varna on the Black Sea coast, archaeologists revealed traces of a civilization equal to that of Egypt and Mesopotamia

Armed with a basic metal detector, a first-time treasure hunter in Britain reportedly has uncovered a trove of Roman-era gold coins that experts believe represents one of the largest such finds in England’s history.

The cache of coins – Roman solidi dating back to the 4 th century – is estimated to be worth £100,000, or about $160,000 in U.S. dollars.

According to the Helmel Gazette newspaper, the man – whose name has not been made public – reportedly bought a beginner’s metal detector from a shop in the Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, area. A few weeks later, the man returned to the shop, showed the shopkeepers 40 gold coins, and asked them: “What do I do with this?”

The shop’s owners, David Sewell and Mark Becher, were stunned. They told the novice treasure hunter to notify authorities of his discovery, the paper added. When he obtained the required permits, Sewell, Becher and others returned with the man to the discovery site.

“We went with them and took with us a couple of slightly more potent machines and we pulled 119 more coins out of the ground,” Sewell told the Daily Mail newspaper. “These are 22 carat gold, they haven’t got any damage and they came out of the ground looking like the day they were made.”

He added: “I’ve found bits and pieces but nothing like this. I’ve got immense satisfaction that the guy came to us and bought the machine from us, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t wish it had been me.”

The solidus coin dates to the closing years of the fourth century. They typically were buried as a sacrifice to gods when the owner was going on a journey or in times of war, said David Thorold, a curator at the St. Albans’ Verulamium Museum, the Associated Press reported.

The local government said the coins were found on private land. Experts at the British Museum will examine the haul to determine its final value. Depending on their opinion, the amateur treasure hunter could get at least a share of the proceeds, reports said.

A hoard of gold coins found by archeologist, documented and studied. We have the good fortune of seeing the treasure and understanding the context by which it was found in.

The treasure hunting lessons that I walk away with is:

1. that businessmen have and will continue to want to protect their wealth on the premises which they can control. Be it behind a brick wall in the shop, in the back in a safe, or in the floor in the back of the shop.

The IAA put out a press release of a treasure hoard found buried in a courtyard. Little has changed in human nature. When threatened with civil unrest, we like to bury our valuables under our floor. or in the garden/ courtyard. Little has changed in the last 2,000 years.

“…The rooms of a building dating to the Roman and Byzantine period were exposed during the course of the excavation. A pit that was dug in the earth and refilled was discerned in the building’s courtyard. To the archaeologist’s surprise, a spectacular treasure trove of exquisite quality was discovered in the pit wrapped in a cloth fabric, of which only several pieces remained on the artifacts… “